It seems new sets of remodeling standards and guidelines are always turning up. There are now recommendations on the brink for sustainable landscape design. The San Francisco Chronicle compares sustainable landscape standards to LEEDs green rating system for buildings. In fact, the U.S. Green Building Council has committed to incorporating these guidelines and standards into the future evolution of the LEED.
Put together by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the United States Botanic Garden, and other organizations, the standards are geared toward sites such as city, office, and industrial parks, medical and academic campuses, and residential as well as commercial landscapes. Weve taken a snapshot of just a few guidelines from the report that homeowners with landscaping plans and environmental outlooks can potentially benefit from.
The Initiatives motivation to produce standards for sustainable sites is to improve and protect the ability of landscapes to provide climate regulation, clean water and air, and improved quality of life. Many of the recommendations can be translated within residential environments and fall under goals for soils, hydrology, vegetation, materials, and human well-being. Here are examples from each goal category.
Soils